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Supporters of the ex-president say they will not budge until he is released

Hundreds of supporters of the former Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, have set up camp outside the cell where he is being held.

Lula has been sentenced to 12 years and one month in prison for corruption and money laundering.

He handed himself in to federal police on Saturday in São Paulo and was flown to the southern city of Curitiba.

The former leader says he will continue to fight against his conviction, which he says was politically motivated.

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Lula's supporters quickly got organised outside the police HQ where he is being held

Polls conducted before he was jailed suggested that Lula, who governed from January 2003 to December 2010, was the frontrunner in October's presidential election but his imprisonment has left the race wide open.

Ms Hoffman said she hoped his release could come as early as Wednesday, when the Supreme Court could revisit its decision, taken only last Thursday, that defendants whose first appeal has failed can be jailed.